Commented Scott Paul, President of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM): “Seven months of treading water in manufacturing jobs is simply not good enough. For all the talk of ‘Made in America’ and reshoring, we’ve seen lots of publicity but very few jobs. This should be a signal to Congress and the Administration that the private sector needs a bold set of public policies to boost jobs in manufacturing.”

Paul pointed to some worrying data points:

The November 2012 manufacturing jobs data was revised down from 11,963,000 jobs to 11,938,000 jobs.

The December figure was also revised down from 11,988,000 jobs to 11,946,000 jobs.

During the 2012 presidential campaign, President Obama set a goal of creating 1 million new manufacturing jobs in his second term. To follow the president’s progress, the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) has launched a new Jobs Tracker, the #AAMeter.

“The president has laid out a worthwhile and achievable goal, and we’ll be watching his progress,” said AAM President Scott Paul. “One million manufacturing jobs is a relatively modest number when you consider the 5.5 million lost in the last decade, but getting some of them back could mean a significant improvement for the health of our economy.”

By using monthly jobs data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), AAM can update a running monthly tally of manufacturing jobs created during the president’s second term. [NOTE: BLS data can face up to two subsequent months of adjustments, and AAM will make note of potential revisions to the launching point data from January 2013 as it continually updates its Jobs Tracker].

The larger point, Paul explains, is that AAM wants to make sure the president stays focused on his pledge.

“Manufacturing is the key to a strong middle class, and the American people have made clear that they want ‘Made in America,’” said Paul. “While the American people understand that economic course corrections take time, they want to see growth in manufacturing employment.”

In an Inauguration Day editorial inUSA Today, Paul explained that President Obama can increase employment in the nation’s manufacturing sector if he takes action to hold China accountable for its continued violations of trade agreements, and follows through on campaign pledges to close tax loopholes that encourage outsourcing.

“As hard as it is to believe, the United States is the only major industrial nation that does not have a cohesive national manufacturing strategy,” said Paul. “We’ve outlined steps the president should to help meet his manufacturing jobs goal. If the Administration and Congress show a genuine willingness to act on these commonsense policies, we’ll see our Jobs Tracker move toward 1 million jobs gained.”

The Alliance for American Manufacturing is a non-profit, non-partisan partnership formed in 2007 by some of America’s leading manufacturers and the United Steelworkers to explore common solutions to challenging public policy topics such as job creation, infrastructure investment, international trade, and global competitiveness. For more information, please visit www.americanmanufacturing.org.